Trip to Caramoan Day 3

 Day 3 - Heading Home

Note: The boats in Guijalo Port scheduled departures are every hour starting at 7 am until 12.

Before 8 – Tricycle to Guijalo (P100 for trip)

8am – from Guijalo to Sabang Port (P 120)

Around 10am- Arrival at Sabang Port

                -Take Van to Naga (P100)

Around 12nn – Arrival at Naga

                -Lunch at SM Naga.

Then from here you can take your route home, either by bus or by plane.

Other Details:

A. Places to eat:

1.Lutong Bahay – Affordable and delicious food

Basics: Rice P10 // Vegies P15 // Meat: P40

2. Caramoan Bed and Dine – A bit expensive

Rice  P 10//Viand – Prices range from P100 up, except for the silog menu which is about P60+

B. Souvenirs:

You can buy on the second day of your stay, after the island trip, or early the next day before leaving.

Stores close early, before 8pm.

 Some stores are already open at around 7am.

Keychains/ Trinklets:  P25 each, but you can haggle if you’re going to buy a lot.

T-shirt : P150

C. If taking the bus home

1. There are only 3 or four stops in the whole 10 hour drive. They have one stop for eating lunch, others are for toilet breaks/ waiting for passengers.

2. You have to eat lunch quick. Like really quick, you don’t want to be the last person to get in the bus, right?

Note: The food price is a bit expensive.

3. There is toilet fee. It’s P5.

4. In Quezon province, there are some vendors who go onboard to sell their products. The peanut tart from “Triple K” is good.  (A vendor even have some samples free.)

Trip to Caramoan Day 2

Day 2: This is it, pusit!

7am – Call time

                -Take tricycle to Bikal (P150 per trip)

Note: (the trike was set up by the inn owner. See if you can try to find others with discount)

                - Journey starts at Bikal Port

Maybe 8 am or past 8 

               -Arrival at Tabgon  to see Our Lady of Peace at Mt. Caglago.

Note: (Tourist guides will welcome you upon your arrival at Tabgon and it’s up to you how much tip to give.

Our lady of Peace – a 500-step ascend to the mountain. Tiring, yes. You need a bottle of water. But the scenery is rewarding.  )

Past 9:30am – Back from the hike. Now let’s go island hopping

Matukad Island

 This is the most beautiful Island from the roster. It has fine white sand, a rock formation that you can take fancy in climbing.)

Lahos Island

-The sand here s a bit brown than Matukad, but still fine. This island is has plenty of floating sea err.. weeds or plants. (A shooting spot for Survivor India, but they’re done shooting here.)

Catbaligan  Island

-The sand somewhat light gray but still fine. This island has a steep rock formation.

Tawad Island

-The sand here is a combination of black and white, nature is creatively forming the colors in it’\s shore lines. There are lots of holes in the sand here, so there could be some crustaceans lurking underneath.

Note:

Boat price:

In Bikal if the itinerary is only island hopping the price is P1,500.

If you are going to Tabgon for the 500 step hike, it’s P2,000. They say that this place is out of the way from the islands, hence the additional price.

Important:

Prepare food for lunch.

Be back before dark.

Don’t forget to give tips to whoever should be given.

Trip to Caramoan Information

I’m grateful to bloggers who post some information regarding their travels, without such aid, it’ll be hard for other aspiring travelers to have ideas on what to do or expect. So here, I noted what I can from my recent trip with my friends last July 22-24 2011.

Trip to Caramoan Itinerary

Day 1: Bon Voyage!

(Via Plane

Note: It’s better to take the earliest flight to Naga if going by plane, since the travel time in the province will be long both by land and boat.)

6am – flight to Naga

About 6:50 – Arrival at Naga

Note: There will be some taxi drivers or the likes that are for hire, but their prices are ripped off.

If not going to ride those taxis, then walk straight towards a road. You can wait for a tricycle to take you to the main road. (P10)

                  -Take a Jeep to SM Naga (P12)

Past 7am - Arrival at SM Naga.

(Note: Mall still closed. If taking breakfast, there’s a Jollibee about 5 min. walk./ or nearby Carinderias )

8:45 am - Van to Sabang Port (P 100)

Note: (You can ask around for the terminal or, look for the Mister Donut store along a short alley. It leads to the terminal)

10:30 am – Arrival at Sabang Port.

  -  Boat ride to Guijalo Port (P120)

(Note: Should be at Guijalo Port by this time, because there’s a schedule for the boat ride)

12:30 nn.- Arrival at Guijalo Port.

-          Take a tricycle to the inn you’ll be checking in.

(e.g: Villa Julianna  - P100 for the trip.)

12:45nn. – Arrival at Villa Juliana

(Check in – P750 a night for 3 persons. +P200 for additional person/s.)

Note:

To maximize the day you can still explore few parts of the town. (P100 for the trip)

e.g:  1.St.  Michael Archangel Parish - Good place to take photos of flowers, and the church.

2. Bulang-bugang  cave – small cave( w/o exit) in a small pond or body of water.

(Note: You can’t possibly go to the cave without getting wet. But the soil in the water is loose and could get murky when you walk on it. Nothing much to explore here, save for the dragon fly with a striking blue-black shining wings.

Jane Eyre Quotes v.1

Wow, I’m really into Jane Eyre aren’t I? For this part, these are some parts uttered by the characters, which I find interesting or deep and meaningful.

Just a background:

 Helen Burns- a student at Lowood School. About 4 years older than Jane. She is a simple girl who often forgets to get things done, thus inflict punishment from a severe teacher. Although she may be ordinary she had a deeper view on things, which at that time, Jane couldn’t seem to understand. They became friends for a brief time. Why only for a brief time? You have to find that out yourself. :P

Mr. Rochester –a middle aged man, who has a sort of temperamental character. The owner of the place in which Jane was accepted to be a governess.

Ok quotes, here we go!

“Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it. It is weak and silly to say that you cannot bear what it is your fate required to you to bear.”  - Helen Burns  (to Jane)

“Life appears to me too short to be spent nursing animosity and registering wrongs” -Helen Burns

“If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way...” -Jane Eyre (to Helen)

“God waits only the separation of spirit from flesh, to crown us with a full reward. Why then should we ever sink of distress, when life is so soon over, and death is so certain an entrance to happiness - to glory." - Helen Burns (to Jane)

“Now I remembered the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears and sensations and excitements awaited those who has courage to go fourth its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils.” - Jane Eyre (to herself)

“It seems to me, that if you tried hard, you would in time find it possible to become what you yourself would approve; and that if from this day you began with resolution to correct your thoughts and actions, you would in a few years have laid up a new and stainless store of recollections, to which you might revert with pleasure.” - Jane Eyre (to Mr. Rochester)

Currently Reading: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Finally, I’m able to read this Classic novel. I’m curious to find out Jane’s story, from the moment my classmate in college seemed to enjoy the all-small-print-book he was reading. But then at that time aside from school work, I was much hesitant since old English style would definitely make my nose bleed.

But as I said I was curious, and besides, we are namesake so I want to know if we somehow resemble some character, or if there are any traits I could adopt from her.

Plot:

Jane Eyre is an orphan who was adopted by her uncle Reed.

The Reeds are well to do family, but since Jane’s mother married just a simple clergyman which was against her parents’ will she was stripped of her right to wealth. Both of Jane’s parents died of plague leaving her alone.

Too bad for Jane, after her uncle’s death, all she received from her aunt and cousins were abuse. After some time it was decided to let her go to school. She spent all eight years of her life in its confinement.  Deciding she needs a change of horizon and wanting to have more real life experience, she decided to advertise herself. Fortunately someone answered to it and made her a governess of a little girl. And the start of her adventure with new people begins. (Well I’m not done reading yet so this is as far as I could go ;) )

Writing:

It’s a good thing I have a dictionary just within my reach while reading this. There are times I can’t advance in a paragraph without looking at the meaning of a word, or there are times that I have to go back to some lines to make out their meaning. Bronte’s writing style is of course influenced by the literature standard and vocabulary standard at that time. (which is spelled NOSEBLEED).

Anyway, putting that aside, I guess she has a good way of putting the character’s emotion in paper. The story is set out in a first person point of view. So you can imagine it’s almost like an autobiography. But it’s more than that. She has this way of describing things you can imagine it in your head (or sort of).

And she has a really specific way of letting the readers know of Jane’s inner feelings.

Other info:

Oh well, you got to have a translator with you. It’s really nice we have the internet now right? You see one character there, the little darling Adelé, mostly speak French, and so she was answered back in French (which is a source of yet another nose bleed) and so to make out what she says you need that indispensable tool.  But you know it’s a good way to learn some new French expressions isn’t it?

Opera Widgets and Jane Eyre

Yeah the title of the classic novel is just Jane Eyre I know, so where the heck did Widgets come from? Oh well, I have to talk about both of them first before I can move on to have a more comprehensive  say about either of them.

For starters, I have been wanting to read this classic Jane Eyre back in college, when I saw one of my friends reading it, and he did seem to enjoy the story. I was sort of curious. But at that time it was at the bottom of my priority list and so forgot all about it up until now.

Now of course, I’m working and spending a lot of time in front of the computer but for work and for idle moments.  Now the standard browser that we are using in the office is Opera. And you know, it has a really entertaining add-on. And this is where Widgets come in. (Drum roll)

Widgets are collections of add-ons that Opera users can enjoy. You can get free stuff ranging from stop watches, timers, games, and of course my favorite ebook Reader! (I guess you'll need to download opera first before downloading its widget.)

So this ebook Reader offers a vast range of FREE, yes free reading materials! From the classics, to the self published ones, you just have to browse it, of type in the title of the book you are finding, and hopefully gets a positive result.

Anyway, that’s it, this is where I have found the copy of Jane Eyre, which made it possible for me to read it free... yehey!  I have actually finished a few books with this reader like Arabian nights, Alice in Wonderland, Through the looking glass, some chapters of Sherlock Holmes, and some self published short stories.

More Than Useless

I've been quite lazy last June. My mind went on juggling from my present situation to thinking about the future, to the things I want to do, to the things I've been putting off doing. And it kind of went like that for most of the month. I was lost inside the crossroad of my mind. I haven't even had time to keep in touch with my friends.

I was so absorbed with self doubts and hesitations about myself. That's when I found this song, and it shed light to me. No matter what  I think, I can't rule out the fact, that to Him I am More Than Useless...^^

  I've been a fan of Relient K, and it's just good to know that they have songs almost anyone could relate to . :)

Credit to: windaskk for the video.